


Here lies a ruins of a house; may a family rise from the ashes.

by youngjusticewriter



Series: How to save a life. [14]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A what if fic based off The Definition of Good, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, This will be a short fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-20 08:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18988660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngjusticewriter/pseuds/youngjusticewriter
Summary: If he had been given his way Kreacher would have stayed shut in the great house of Black using the years it was going to be until the new master, Harry Potter, arrived to find a way to finally destroy the locket. Unfortunately, Marg and his young master’s owl were a foul, hard headed creatures. The Boy Who Lived gets a family because sometimes a family can found in two mourning house elves and an owl.





	Here lies a ruins of a house; may a family rise from the ashes.

It was Marg who found Kreacher not Leonis. Immediately, Kreacher crudely thought several things on the damned owl and whether he did care as he proclaimed he did. Leonis had not been sent out so why had the owl abandoned Kreacher to waste time in the library? But then Kreacher’s tired eyes flickered to the black clothing on Marg. In normal circumstances, Marg’s clothing was a white cloth that was clean unlike Kreacher’s had been the last six years though that, the pillow case that covered his thin little body, was an exception rather than the rule. It was so because of Marg’s station that was why the clothing she wore was pristine despite Marg often being at the presence of old mistress. In the last few years their mistress had been losing herself in her mind, of a broken heart. Perhaps if mistress’s niece and her family would visit far more often than the mistress would not be so sad. Yes, the Malfoys would not be able to fill the loss of her youngest son and the seditious boy that was her oldest who was still alive because death was never kind. That did not mean the Malfoys could not visit the mistress more so she could interact with someone than the house elves serving her and on rare occasions the deceased young master’s owl, Leonis. 

“Mistress Walburga departed some time in the night,” Marg informed Kreacher, there were no failings from Marg as she relayed the news of the second last death of the great house of Black. The words had no difficulty coming out, they were not choked or stuttered (not that Kreacher expected Marg to stutter), and Marg’s thin little body did not tremble as Marg announced the news in the library. Marg was far older than Kreacher. Marg had seen many deaths of the family and perhaps that was why she could act as such. 

It’s not Marg’s first rodeo, popped into Kreacher’s head and it, the muggle phrase, made Kreacher want to grind his sharp teeth. The oldest Black son was not here, had not been for years, and yet still Kreacher thought of one his muggle phrases the seditious boy like to spit out to scorn his poor mother. 

“The Mortuus Voxes have been sent a letter. The voxes they send should arrive soon. Change the color of your clothing to black and get to the kitchen. We must be prepare for the Malfoys to arrive.” 

It was simple to replace the white to the wizarding shade of mourning. The change of the pillow case started at Kreacher’s shoulders and spread downwards. It wasn’t till the appropriate color was wholly worn that the loose hair, though said hair was only few strands of white, house elf spoke again, “Would Kreacher tell Marg what agreement Kreacher and Leonis have come to?” 

So the owl had tried to fulfill the appointment he had made with Kreacher. The knowledge that the foul, hard headed creature did care was not a sweet knowledge to be bestowed with the loss he had been told of minutes prior. 

“Kreacher can not.” Kreacher had been told not to tell family. Marg was not family but, unlike Kreacher, Marg had never been issued the order that the mission was a secret. So Kreacher did not tell once again. (How many timed had Kreacher debated informing the older elf in hopes that Marg would help in the destruction of the locket in the several years that had passed since the young master’s death? Like Leonis, Marg could read because of her station. But in the end it came to ordered secrecy.) 

Marg’s dry lips thinned but she did not press further on the subject. Whether it was for Kreacher’s sake or the circumstances Marg and Kreacher were in Kreacher did not know. There were only so much time before Lucius inherited the estate and procession through his wife Narcissa who was Kreacher and Marg’s mistress’ niece so Kreacher did not have time to debate which one it was. Instead, Kreacher headed to the kitchens to prepare the food. The voxes that were coming could not eat - it was part of the punishment - but the Malfoys and any other inheritors of the will may wish for food. Mistress had two other nieces (their father who was mistress’s brother had passed already) one of them, Andromeda, had married into the blood of mud so there would be no inherence there. The other sister, Bellatrix, was in prison with her cousin so it, everything of the Black family, would be inherited by Narcissa therefor Malfoys whom she had married into because Bellatrix shared the sentence as Sirius: one of life, however short it was because of the companionship of the dementors. 

First, was the steak and kidney pie then Kreacher would start the mince pie young Draco had a preference to. The work was easy to be put to, unlike the task Kreacher had been given years ago. That did not mean Kreacher wished it off himself. It was just Kreacher had not found a way to fulfill it after the years that had come since the master’s death. Leonis was supposed to have helped, to have met Kreacher in the Black family’s library to see if some book could be found pertaining information needed to destroy the object, but that had not taken place with the mistress death. It was horrible to be frustrated at her death but Kreacher did not like it. Not just because poor young (young Kreacher’s master was, so young even for wizards, for the kind of men, when he departed) Regulus gave his life for it. No, not just that, but in accordance as well with how it whispers and listens like an object should not. Kreacher has come across many creations of wizards and even from muggles because of his poor old mistress oldest son was a seditious boy but no such object is like the one Kreacher hid in the cupboard. It made Kreacher shudder besides that of the great wariness that it deserved; should he succeed in finally accomplishing his duty the locket of Slytherin, an heirloom of the great wizard that founded the Hogwarts house that children of Blacks stride to be part before their years of schooling at the magical institute, shall be disintegrated beyond repair. 

How tasteless, Kreacher thought just as the door to the home was knocked upon. The noise made Kreacher’s drooped ears perk up. It was Marg who excused herself from whatever task she was doing to go open the door. There was no greeting made so it wasn’t the Malfoys at the door or any other wizard who was coming to mourn the mistress. No, it had to be the voxes Marg had sent for considering the silence on both sides of what should have been conversation. Voxes could not speak - the tongues of the former house elves had been spelled off and, even if that was not tradition, the lips were sown shut too with a spell - and Marg, like any house elf who was not born recently, would not greet nor offer the voxes refreshments. The earlier was something one did to other visiting house elves once the families had had no want for anything. 

The smell of cooking pie filling the air near reminded Kreacher of the obligations he had. Kreacher grabbed a knife to test the steak and kidney pie on once Kreacher took it out of the oven. With a jerk of Kreacher’s finger, the oven opened and, with another movement of Kreacher’s finger, the pie was levitated onto the stove top. After closing the oven Kreacher tested the pie by gently pressing the knife into it. It was done. Kreacher would take it to the dining room in a minute. He would go ahead and put the mince pie (young master Draco’s favorite) in the oven first so it could start baking while he handled other preparations for the guests to come. 

The dinning room needed cleaning - mistress had been bed ridden for quite some time so the cleaning of the room had been put off, it wasn’t forgotten as it was put aside for later - Kreacher noted as the steak and kidney pie was brought into the room. After fetching a salad for the guests Kreacher did clean it. The cleaning wasn’t done by hand but rather magic since there was only so much time till the Malfoys arrived. After cleaning it Kreacher went back to the kitchen to start on another dish though this one was to be a dessert. 

It was easy for Kreacher to lose track of time but after the dining table was filled with dishes (including that mince pie from earlier) it came glaringly obvious something was not right. The Malfoys and other guests, whether to mourn the mistress or were there in hopes of being part of the inheritance, should have been here by now. The voxes had already left about an hour ago because the job of mistress’s body prepared for viewing had been accomplished. Usually visitors would arrive before then. While young master Regulus had no body recovered to be viewed (and it’s Kreacher’s fault, maybe mistress would still be alive because she had something, someone, to live for) Kreacher had been there when master Orion had departed so that was how Kreacher knew they should be here by now. 

Yet no one had arrived by now, nor would anyone do so that day. The platters of food would stay on the table for hours until charmed for longevity, the corpse of mistress would stay on the bed, what had once been her room left undisturbed since the voxes and Marg had left it, and two house elves were left watching for a new family that never came. 

How horrible it was to be forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, can we just talk about Kreacher? Kreacher was literally incapable of leaving that house and lived there alone for years without any contact besides that of a portrait (which we’ll be seeing next chapter) of a dead person he enslaved to and a horocrux. Holy shit no wonder Kreacher is like the way he was along with Sirius’ future treatment of him. The more I think about house elves in the series the more I want to hug them. 
> 
> Mortuus Voxes means death voices. The former house elves are called that because they serve to prepare dead wizards and witches. (They will eventually appear in the Definition of Good because while Dobby and Kreacher will not be dying everyone else is free game. I already have one character besides Harry (because Harry has to die once for the horocrux to leave him) who will be dying and, unlike Harry, will be staying dead. There will probably be more to die as I write farther into the series.) Anyway, their tongues are cut out with a spell and their lips are shown shut. House elves either become a vox because the family they were enslaved to died (this ensures that any secrets an elf had on the family are not given to a new owner who could order the elf to tell them) or for great punishment that is either inflicted by the owner of the house elf or self inflicted by the house elf after being freed. 
> 
> The name of Regulus‘ owl was me being witty. (Witty here means me making a bad joke.)
> 
> Also, for reference: Regulus died 1979, Lily and James were murdered 1981, and Regulus and Sirius’s mom died 1985.
> 
> In other news I’m up to chapter four on rewriting TDF.


End file.
